User blog:Tadano Hitoshi/Ragtag Hustle Kancolle - Summer 2016 Event Edition
(Author's note: I think I like Haruna switching between third person speech and first-person speech. I dunno, it might be inconsistent, but I feel like I could write better that way.) ='Intercept! The Second Naval Battle of Malaya!'= Hello, this is Haruna, reporting for the Admiral for this operation. ... Hehe, receiving such an important task from the Admiral, I feel so happy I wonder if it's okay... I mean, I did receive the most wonderful gift from him after all... aaahhh~~! No, no. Calm down, Haruna...! But how would Admiral like me to report back to him? "Just write it the way you want. I don't care if it's like a diary or something. As long as I can get a good idea of what's going on from it, we're cool." Even though he says that... Haruna isn't really good with "whatever I want". ... If I have to describe "whatever I want"... I think it'll be all about the Admiral? The Admiral is wonderful, he is like no other, he is my wor-- Ah! I mustn't do that. Haruna, get a grip! Anyway, we recently ended our strategy meeting for the next operation. After receiving word from the intelligence via Ooyodo-san, the Admiral made a very scary face... Haruna never saw that before. I mean, Admiral did pull some pretty intimidating expressions during our past few events, but this is the first time Haruna ever saw such an expression. It's like... a tiger about to roar. An animal about to assert its dominance among its pack. Regarding the operation, it seems we will be sailing towards Admiral's homeland - modern-day Malaya. It's called Malaysia these days, if I'm not mistaken? Also thanks to the details of the operation Haruna learned why the Admiral was feeling so aggressive about the operation. Apparently there has been an influx of Abyssals around the area, and the area is littered with some pretty powerful ones. Not really liking the fact that there are insanely powerful Abyssals loitering around the area, Admiral eagerly accepted the task of conducting an operation towards the peninsular. Also it seems Haruna will play a star role along with Kongou onee-sama for the operation as well as some others, Haruna is deeply excited! But Haruna is somewhat worried... One of the Admiral's motivations for joining operations is to see potential new recruits, and the latest information from the intelligence is worrisome. It seems one of the potential new recruits will be a British battleship - and a very decorated one at that. HMS Warspite, if I am not mistaken. ... From her image, she exudes quite a powerful aura of a dignified lady... befitting of her class name. I wonder how well will Kongou onee-sama welcome her into the fleet? For the most part Kongou onee-sama has been a very cool person but I am still worried... Anyway! Now is not the time to fret over such things. It is time for me to watch warmly, with the Admiral by my side, over the operations as we plow through the enemy ranks... -- 'Patrol of Buntan' We began our operations a little late over 2330hrs on August 12, preparing to set sail first thing in the following morning. Though we're again playing the 'clean-up party' role this time as well, since we came pretty early there's very little amount of intelligence available regarding where we should go to, with who and what. So it's kind of a haphazard intelligence gathering operations for the rest of cleaners like us, but ultimately Admiral chose to go with Naka-san as the squadron leader followed by Jintsuu-san, and they were supported by four destroyers including the recently-ascended (as part of the Ninety-Niners) Shigure-chan. Needless to say, despite the haphazardness we were able to complete the operation smoothly. That Submarine Summer Princess, as she went down she was nosebleeding to the point it muddled the water around the area she sank. ... Wait, Admiral was wearing his Summer get-up, wasn't he? ... No way, she was looking at him that way throughout the entire time...!? Uuu, Admiral, you even attract the Abyssals in scary ways... A-anyway! Since we've finished with our first operations, the Admiral didn't really waste too much time in assembling the next fleet line-up for the next operation... -- 'The Second Battle of Endau' For the second operation, this time around we managed to get a little bit on our smarts regarding our roster for the operation... roughly at first. We later discovered another Admiral was making their rounds on the area with a seaplane tender, which our Admiral remarked: "No wonder I felt something was missing. All right, we're going with this roster next! I'm going to call Mizuho here." And so Mizuho heeded his call for the sortie. But what waited for us at the end was... Battleship Summer Princess: "Ya~y! Admiral Boy, you came~! I'm so happy! Let's have fun together~" ... Oh no! It's her again... except in a swimsuit! Though her being alone and not with her usual full complement of weaponry and escorts, it was easy enough for Chikuma-san, Abukuma-san and the destroyers to make quick work of her. But... ... that esctatic look she has when she is being pelted by our gunfire... that look she gives Admiral as she receives every hit... ... The Abyssals are frightening, in various ways. I cannot let Admiral fall into their hands!! -- 'The Second Naval Battle of Malaya' Pushing forward, we were again stumped with finding our way around the waters... despite that, we plowed our way through towards the port in Singapore. But what waited for us in the middle of our way was... Battleship Summer Princess #1: "Hey, you're the boy #0 onee-sama told us about, right? Hello~!!♥♥" Battleship Summer Princess #2: "Yeah, it's him! He~y! Let's forget about fighting and your fleet for a while and play together~♥♥" ... That goes without saying Admiral screamed at the top of his lungs upon seeing them... again... except in swimsuits. Kongou onee-sama, Haruna... cannot take this anymore. Kongou: "H-hey, Haruna? You need to CALM DOWN, yeah? I know they're the bad girls and Admiral is danger in getting... molested... But CALM DOWN, okay?" No can do, Onee-sama! Haruna will not let them do as they please! "Haruna will not let you do as you please!!" ... ... Long story short, we managed to break through and arrive at the harbour in Singapore. Kongou: "Cooled down a bit yet, Haruna? I mean, that battle earlier... I know how Admiral means that much to you but hey... he's our Admiral, all right? You don't worry about his safety alone-NE~" Yes. Haruna has showed everyone an unsightly behavior... I'm sorry. Kongou: "Well yeah, to say I won't go CRAZY like that if I was in your place would be a lie. Right, Admiral?" ... Kongou onee-sama, saying all these as she tucks the Admiral to her bosom. ... Kongou onee-sama, Haruna... is feeling a bit jealous. Haruna wants to do that too... P/S: During our trip to the Singapore harbour we encountered yet another Italian ship - this time she introduces herself as Aquila. ... Thinking back of it, the Italian ships sure roam around a lot, don't they? Anyway... Aquila: "Aircraft carrier Aquila, Moving out! Follow my back, fellow Japanese carriers! Just kidding... Ow!" Kaga: "Now you've done it." (while repeatedly knocking Aquila's head) ... it seems she gets it in over her head rather easily...? Anyway we also encountered I-26, or Nimu as she requested to be called... but... Haruna doesn't even realize we have active submarines at port and apparently she is our seventh in the team...?' -- 'Night Battle of Malacca Strait' -- [ Haruna's Memory Section - This part is not recorded in Haruna's version of operation logs. ] -- "Night battle of Malacca Strait, huh..." The Admiral mumbled while he was reading the operation details. "I think there needs to be a local representative at the Headquarters Office to tell them the area the enemy is waiting for an ambush is already outside the Malacca Strait. That's already a little inside the Indian Ocean, just behind Northern Sumatra. If this is for sensationalism to get the other bases excited for the operation, I would rather be the killjoy and choose to be anal on the factual correctness than play along with that." The Admiral, as blunt as ever. But, Haruna did not mind it at all. Rather, it is this frankness of the Admiral that Haruna likes about him. "That aside, Haruna-san. Since we're in my home waters, want to hear a local joke on languages?" What would that be, Admiral? I'm all ears. "Apparently my people are so good at languages we can mash Indian and Chinese languages together with my mother tongue and English, and make a perfectly understandable sentence." Is that so? ... As usual, the Admiral loves telling jokes that fly quite high over our heads, but if it's to see him happy like this, Haruna would be obliged... "It goes something like this. Ehem. 'Wei macha, you want to makan here or tapau?'" ... And as usual... Haruna didn't get it. Sometimes, Haruna wishes she could understand Admiral's sense of humor. "... Well, actually that is a joke of poor taste to tell to someone who is not a native here and lived enough to understand. What I told you earlier was basically equivalent to a casual 'Hey dude, do you want to dine in or make that a take out?'" "Really?" "Yes. Well, yeah. It's a pretty silent night tonight and it feels kind of a bit... slow so I figure I'd crack something to relax." That is Haruna's... my Admiral, for you. While he can be pretty serious, he does have a laidback side to him, trying to make us, his charges, feel more at ease interacting with him. ...The moon, it is beautiful tonight. "Sure it is, that's quite a brilliant reflection of the sun's rays I see there, nature is great." ... Leave it to Admiral to crack things up like this. ... Admiral, Haruna wishes that some day, you can understand what I meant with it. Haruna is being serious. -- Time for the final operation. This time the Admiral chose to go out on full attack with a carrier task force. The only relatively new participants for the operation would be the sisters Shoukaku-san and Zuikaku-san, as well as Myoukou-san and Haguro-san. The Admiral was in a mischievous mood as he went to tell Myoukou-san and Haguro-san that along the way they'll get to sail past the resting places of their former selves, but to his surprise they took it rather well. ... It is also rare to see Haguro-san being rather cheerful with the Admiral, though, but Haruna thinks it's only obvious that Admiral has that kind of effect on some of us. ... After all, sometimes he feels like a small, cute animal. ... Hehe. Anyway, moving on with the operation... The Harbour Summer Princess was still around, not really willing to give up her spot despite us attacking her earlier in the previous battle we fought her in, but we managed to quickly subdue her. And sometime as we sailed through the Malacca Strait... Battleship Summer Princess #4: "Ufufu, it's now time for night battles♥. Let's make a lot of summer night memories here~" ... Like we will allow that to happen...!!! -- Our voyage to the place where the enemy flagship is waiting continued. We were plagued by several incoming enemy airstrikes hoping to deter us from arriving, but thankfully to Maya-san and Akagi-san's teams playing their part, we were able to continue without much hindrances.' It is time. The face of the enemy flagship fleet is now within our visual range. Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess: "Such boorish people... go back!" Admiral: "Since I am an actual native from these areas, I would say the same back at you. You. Are. In. MY. HOUSE." Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess: "... Tch, and a killjoy at that too. It seems you're without the two extra annoying dykes, so I guess I can be cool with that." Battleship Summer Princess #5: "Oh, what joy, to be meeting you here as well! ♥" Admiral: "You're one to talk about annoyances, so I'm going to ask about that lady next to you looking at me funny." Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess: "Oh, her? Well you can just ignore her for now. Let's settle this for ourselves. Come on, tell your girls to take out their guns already." Admiral: "THERE'S NO WAY I CAN IGNORE SUCH A BIG MEATSHIELD WHO ALSO HITS HARD ENOUGH TO RENDER ALMOST EVERYONE IN MY FLEET USELESS!" Battleship Summer Princess #5: "Oh, my~. I'm not that big, you see. It's just my rigging~♥" Admiral's whole fleet: "SHUT UP!" The battle commenced. Despite it being difficult for us to evade their attacks due to the sheer amount of fuel our sortie costed us till we met them, thankfully we still have enough ammunition reserves to hit back at the enemy hard. Eventually, we managed to defeat her. Like our first encounter against her in Winter, it was Shigure-chan delivering the critical hit. Heavy Cruiser Summer Princess: "A direct hit... huh... the vital parts are... I see. Oh... well... But I'm... What is this? This feeling... it's familiar." Admiral: "Go back to the bottom, and embrace the warmth of the southern seas beneath the surface." -- 'Warspite' "My name is Battleship Warspite, of the Queen Elizabeth-class. Admiral, thanks for having me." "Welcome to our fleet, Battleship Warspite. I am from the Japanese branch of the navy in charge of the ship girls, though as an individual I am a native from these areas as well. Nice to meet you." Then there was a brief silence between the two of them. (This is our first meeting yet this person seems to be a very courteous person, and is fluent in my language despite being a native... I'm impressed.) (Oh wow, she seems to be of the dignified aristocrat kind. ... Not really a fan of them.) -- 'After story' Admiral: "Good work. Also it seems you're taking quite some time to finish this compared to Choukai, huh?" Haruna: "Yes, Admiral, I'm sorry... During the whole time Haruna was writing this, it was mixed with a lot of errors because Haruna was not thinking straight while writing them down." Admiral: "That's rare, someone like you not being able to think straight while writing fleet logs. Something the matter?" Haruna: "No, nothing wrong, really. Haruna let her emotions get in the way of writing... it really was not supposed to happen." Admiral: (sighs) "If you say it like that, then that means there is something the matter with you. Oh well, sit down." Haruna: "...?" (The Admiral reaches out to Haruna's head with his right hand... and pats it.) Haruna: "!!?? ... Hau.... A-Admiral, to suddenly do this to Haruna...!" Admiral: "Should I stop?" Haruna: "N-no... but... auuu...." (As the Admiral continues to pat her, she starts glowing. As it happens, the Admiral uses his free hand to take out a pair of sunglasses and wears them.) Admiral: "I guess you really liked it. The last time I did that also made you sparkle like this. If only it was this easy to raise morale... [[:File:YEEEEAAAAAAAAHH|Also, I figure this operation really made you... (fixing his sunglasses) shine.]]" Haruna: "B-but that's because it's you, Admiral... Ha, Haruna doesn't know if this will work on the others..." Admiral: "So you're saying there's a possibility this can happen to the others too?" Haruna: "No, no! Uuuuhh... I mean, it's just Haruna and you, Admiral..." Admiral: "Hmm..." (A moment later, the Admiral lets go of Haruna's head.) Admiral: "I also hear that doing this too much will get you intoxicated. The Japanese concept of headpats are fearsome indeed." Haruna: "Th-that's not true at all, Admiral... it's because of our bonds that we..." Admiral: "Bonding, huh. ... I guess I really had too much hand-off policies with you people. Though I believe this kind of trust has to be earned than demanded. ... Tch, what I'm saying after all this time. Haruna, I'm settling down for the night. Are you going to make the nightly rounds?" Haruna: "Yes... If possible, Haruna wants to lie down with you but... a duty is a duty. Good night, Admiral." Admiral: "Nighty-night. See you next morning." (The admiral tucks in to the futon and falls asleep. Haruna exits the room.) Haruna: (To receive another pat on the head from Admiral... ehehe... ehehehehe~) With a smile on her face, Haruna begins her night watch duty. '????' ???: (in whispering voice) "Thanks for being my company tonight although you just got posted. We're doing this under blackout conditions so just be quiet and stay on my lead." ????: (in whispering voice) "Uuuuhh... okay...?? Though you sure sound different than your usual chipper self...?" ???: "Even so when we need silence we need to be very cautious. The KSK training regime for shipgirls back in Germany was very tough so that's why I was quite a quiet person when I first arrived here. Also as an operator, keeping mum about what we do on the sidelines by switching between two kinds of faces is something we should master." ?????: "By the way I also got the same drill by the JGSDF, you know. ... Hey, look over there." ???: "!!! Get down underwater. Beeile dich! Run silent, otherwise the sonars are going to get us." ????: "!!! Roger!" ?????: "Rapid dive in progress!" '????, from another perspective' !?: "Gah... urgh... huff... stubborn one. Telling her to sleep wasn't easy... hm? A sonar ping?" !?: "........" (Silence.) !?: "... And it's gone. Something is underwater, but I can't quite make out what they are." -- (Mein Gott... this has to be the worst suspicion on our side that had to come true. We'll have to crawl slowly underwater to report this to the Admiral. Observe the seafloor dwellers and try to copy their movements, but don't make it too obvious we're following them.) (Roger... Awawawa...) (Relax there, just follow our movements...) -- !?: "... The water down there doesn't seem calm at all. There are sounds from the ocean floor... ... Tch. Even if I want to give chase and find out what they are, I don't think I can do that yet in this body. ... Urgh! What kind of heat is this! It's throbbing down there... Damn you, another me. You have nothing to blame but your own heart." -- Summer 2016 - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (Something tells me I better write out the next part of this ??? parts somewhere else as a proper story with proper prose... but I feel I need more motivation and time for that.) Category:Blog posts